NJPW New Beginning In Osaka, Iizuka Retiring, Ibushi Update

[cero2k]

Source: f4wonline.com

NJPW has revealed the cards for February's New Beginning in Sapporo and New Beginning in Osaka events.

The New Beginning in Sapporo takes place across two nights on Saturday, February 2 and Sunday, February 3. The first night will be headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada teaming against Jay White & Bad Luck Fale, while the second show's main event will be IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito defending his title against Taichi.

Night two in Sapporo also features two Tag Team title matches. IWGP Tag Team Champions EVIL & SANADA defend against Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr., and El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru get their rematch against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shingo Takagi & BUSHI.

Tanahashi will defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against White at the New Beginning in Osaka on Monday, February 11. White confronted Tanahashi after Wrestle Kingdom 13 and was established as his first challenger in an angle at New Year Dash.

Okada vs. Fale is the semi-main event of the Osaka show. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori is also set to make his first title defense against Ryusuke Taguchi.

NJPW has yet to reveal the cards for their New Beginning USA events in Los Angeles, Charlotte, and Nashville. Those shows are expected to feature wrestlers who aren't on the New Beginning tour in Japan, along with young lions from NJPW's California dojo.

Here are the full cards for the New Beginning in Sapporo and Osaka:

New Beginning in Sapporo night one (February 2) --
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. EVIL
Minoru Suzuki vs. SANADA
Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI vs. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado
Ryusuke Taguchi, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano & Togi Makabe vs. Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tiger Mask IV vs. Takashi Iizuka & Taka Michinoku
Manabu Nakanishi & Toa Henare vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino
Ren Narita vs. Yuya Uemura

New Beginning in Sapporo night two (February 3) --

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito defending against Taichi

IWGP Tag Team Champions EVIL & SANADA defending against Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shingo Takagi & BUSHI defending against El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens

Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano & Togi Makabe vs. Taiji Ishimori, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ren Narita vs. Takashi Iizuka & Taka Michinoku

Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino

Toa Henare vs. Yota Tsuji

New Beginning in Osaka (February 11) --

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending against Jay White

Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori defending against Ryusuke Taguchi

Togi Makabe & Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa

Tomoaki Honma & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens

Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI vs. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado

EVIL & SANADA vs. Shota Umino & Ayato Yoshida

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & Taka Michinoku

[Big Red Machine]

NO MORE IIZUKA! HOORAY!

Also... those Suzuki-Gun match-ups look a lot more interesting than I thought they would. I was certain we were going to get at least one (and probably two) big, pointless ten-man tags.